Enjoying the moments in the absence of time

I treasure those moments in the absence of time when I don’t have to be in one place or another. The perfect time for a peaceful, joyful walk with my children in the nearby forest.

We went on the Expotition to the nearby forest on bikes. (The North Pole was too far for us!) We followed the path as we usually do, but this time children decided to be more adventurous and took a turn we never had before. After a while of cruising down the newly discovered path, we got surprised by lots of sand and eventually our bikes got stuck… And there it was – our new discovery - in the middle of the forest we found a "seaside" – a large sandy area surrounded by pine trees. The children were delighted of their discovery.

Children quickly tried their skills in Long Jumping and Triple Jumping (clearly still under the influence of Olympic Games. Yea, they loved watching the Games together with us).

Children asked if something may be built from the sand. I had no objection. After all – we had nowhere to hurry and there were no “must do” activities! So the children indulged in the sand therapy being overcome by idea of building their own sand kingdoms. Each built his own and decorated it with rowan berries, acorns and wooden chips found around the surrounded dune. More than an hour passed without noticing. Meanwhile, our little brother not far indulged in dreaming was tight asleep.

The children were very pleased with their discovery, but more importantly – for the 3 kingdoms which were built and connected with one big road. The children were positively charged and calm. What is more needed for mom (and children, too)? :)

Here are some things that I do before and during the walk times with my children:

Bring water and bread. We most often take still water and dark brown bread, and when the hunger arises, it disappears in an instant :) or any other snacks (e.g., some vegetables - carrots, peppers, etc.) · Probably wet wipes will also be useful. I grabbed few pampers for our little brother;

Leaving the house ask children - which way to go? At the next crossroad ask again, etc. This time it led us to a magical dune in the middle of forest. Where will it take you?

Sometimes we use the step counter app on the phone to make walking more interesting – that is to say, we choose a target (the neighbouring house, the nearest lamp, the next street) and guess, how many steps to the specific object could be? Ask all the children and see who got closest!

When we were learning alphabet - during the walk we looked for items that correspond to each letter of the alphabet. That was lots of fun!

Our kids love to walk with an aim, for example, go to the store to get the jackstraws or to the lake to feed the ducks :)

When you have something planned to do after the walk and you need to be back on time, I’ve discovered that giving few hints to my children is very helpful and teaches them the concept of time. For example, I try to give a nudge when we need to leave in 20 minutes. The same at 10 and 5. That helps to leave on time when you say the scary words “Time to go (This does not always work, but you should try. :) )

Have a nice and unhurried being together with your loved ones!

P.s.

In regards to the dark brown bread – it’s available in every store in Latvia, but when it comes to UK where the rest of our team members reside – it’s hard to find proper dark bread. Best shot is at Eastern-European stores. We have not yet tried ordering online, but seems there might be a good option by www.brownbreadonline.co.uk